- American Airlines to resume US flights to Venezuela for first time since 2019 after Trump announces airspace reopening
Source: mint [India]
“American Airlines announced on Thursday that it intends to restart daily flights to Venezuela for the first time since 2019, pending government approval and subject to security review. This comes weeks after US forces [abducted] former president Nicolas Maduro during Operation Absolute Resolve. On Thursday, US President Donald Trump directed the Transportation Department to lift the current limitations that bar US flights following a conversation with Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodríguez, according to Reuters.” (01/29/26)
- Judge rejects Brad Raffensperger’s bid to loosen spending limits in Georgia governor’s race
Source: WRAL News
“A federal judge has rejected for now Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger ‘s bid to gain more spending power in the state’s race for governor, upholding campaign finance rules that some Republicans argue give certain candidates an unfair advantage. Raffensperger’s independent political action committee, Safe Affordable Georgia, filed a federal lawsuit in December asking permission to raise unlimited funds for his campaign. One of his opponents in the GOP primary, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, has been able to do that under a 2021 state law that created leadership committees like the one he chairs, which can raise unlimited funds for candidates. Attorneys for Safe Affordable Georgia argued current law violates Raffensperger’s First Amendment rights by subjecting him to different rules than his opponent and requested that the limits for his committee be waived during the ongoing campaign.” (01/29/26)
- American Gestapo/American Psycho
Source: Judging Freedom
by Andrew P Napolitano“Last week, a half-dozen masked and unidentifiable Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents killed a 37-year-old federal employee, a nurse, by spraying pepper spray into his eyes, pushing him to the ground, stealing his lawfully owned and carried handgun, and then shooting him nine times in the back. … Under the Constitution, immigration — who can legally come to and remain in the United States — was left to the states to regulate; and naturalization — who can become an American citizen — was left to the feds.” (01/29/26)
- From Georgia’s Film Subsidies to Intel’s Collapse, Industrial Policy Keeps Failing
Source: Reason
by Veronique de Rugy“Industrial policy is failing, and not just in Washington. Across America, officials promise to engineer the right economic outcomes by intervening in the market in just the right ways. Most people know that under Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump, the idea has exploded. Less appreciated is how enthusiastically governors and state legislators are embracing their own versions. They repeat the same claims: With the right mix of subsidies, protection, and political direction, one government or another can revive strategic industries and deliver durable economic strength. The results tell a different story. Wherever it’s found, industrial policy is producing wasted resources, distorted incentives, and fragile outcomes that collapse the moment political support shifts or market realities intrude.” (01/29/26)
- Networks Versus Hierarchies in Minneapolis’s Struggle Against ICE
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Frank Miroslav“For some time, I was thinking about writing a review of Kevin Carson’s book The Desktop Regulatory State, which helped inspire me to become an anarchist back in 2016, to see how it aged in the decade since it was published. But then ICE invaded the city of Minneapolis. And then the citizens fought back in a way that is seemingly a textbook application of what Carson wrote about in that book, to the point that if a second edition is ever published, I would not at all be surprised if it had an entire subsection in the appendix of the book, Case Study in Networked Resistance.” (01/28/26)
- The Incredibility of Credibility
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan“When they hear about awesome yet unlikely policy reforms, one of economists’ favorite reactions is to shrug and sigh, ‘But there’s a huge credibility problem.’ Why not promise foreign investors that they’ll never be expropriated? ‘Credibility. Investors know that after they invest, you’ll reverse the policy.’ Why not deny immigrants welfare benefits for life? ‘Credibility. Natives know that once the immigrants are here, they’ll soon pressure us for equal treatment.’ Why not allow people to give up Social Security benefits in exchange for lower taxes? ‘Credibility. Americans won’t tolerate senior citizens living on the streets.’ Citing ‘credibility’ makes economists sound wise, and laymen sound like wise economists. Yet on reflection, most credibility arguments are foolishly obtuse.” (01/29/26)
- Kennedy Center: Don’t Mend It, End It
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“After only two weeks on the job, The Hill reports, Kevin Couch resigned in late January as head of artistic programming at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Couch’s brief tenure might seem surprising, but a better question is why Couch sought or accepted the position in the first place. With a reasonably impressive record dating back 30 years as a drummer, manager, and midwest talent booker, why swim toward a sinking ship? And a better question yet is: Why bother to keep that ship afloat at all?” (01/29/26)
- Forget About Online Groypers. Instagram Influencers Will Be The Real Death Of America
Source: The Federalist
by Kylee Griswold“emember just three months ago, when conservatives self-immolated over a smarmy little twerp named Nick Fuentes, who was supposedly going to be the downfall of the conservative movement because he was being platformed? … The Fuentes hysteria looks especially stupid now — first because of a new report from Eric Kaufman at the University of Buckingham Center for Heterodox Social Science showing just how weak Fuentes’[s] influence really is …. nd second, because we’re once again experiencing a flare-up of a phenomenon with way more power than Nick Fuentes and frog memes have ever had: low-information Instagram performance posting.” (01/29/26)
- The American people fact-checked their government
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Jacob Mchangama“On Oct. 17, 1961, tens of thousands of Algerians marched through the streets of Paris in peaceful defiance of a discriminatory curfew imposed by the French state. Police opened fire, beat protesters, arrested them en masse — and, in some cases, threw people into the Seine, where they drowned. Historians later called it ‘the bloodiest act of state repression of street protest in Western Europe in modern history.’ At least 48 — but possibly hundreds — were killed. Yet for decades, the official story minimized the violence. The death toll, it was claimed, was three. Police had acted to defend themselves. The protesters were terrorists. The French state actively buried the truth. Records were falsified. Evidence suppressed. Investigations blocked. Publications seized. The paper trail was shaped to match the story. … Paris 1961 is a historical warning. Minneapolis 2026 is its modern counterpoint.” (01/29/26)
https://www.thefire.org/news/american-people-fact-checked-their-government
- ICE’s Theater of War
Source: Mother Jones
by Inae Oh“The Trump administration may be starting to show small signs of regret after its lies about Alex Pretti’s killing proved too much for Americans. But make no mistake: The wind-down is about quelling a PR crisis amid tanking poll numbers — not regret for their terrorist-like behavior. President Trump and his inner circle still insist that rounding people up and crushing dissidents brings peace to American cities besieged by the assault of having an immigrant community. In fact, some, like Steve Bannon, are calling for further escalation.” (01/29/26)
- The Fifth Column, 542
Source: The Fifth Column
“Enthusiastic Armadas, Armenian Bakeries, Ye’s Apology Ad.” (01/29/26)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/enthusiastic-armadas-armenian-bakeries
- Freed Up, 01/29/26
Source: Reason
“Robby Soave and Christian Britschgi discuss the latest videos of Alex Pretti, their own Reason origin stories, and how Joe Biden broke everything.” (01/29/26)
- Underthrow Podcast, 01/29/26
Source: Underthrow
“Storytelling Beyond Politics w/ Erin O’connor.” (01/29/26)
- The Daily, 01/29/26
Source: New York Times
“Social Media on Trial.” (01/29/26)